Lewis Hamilton called for Bernie Ecclestone and Sir Jackie Stewart to be censored and declared “enough is enough” after the racial insult of Nelson Pique.
The seven-time world champion spoke before the British Grand Prix this weekend – days after the insulting mention of 69-year-old Pique for Hamilton appeared from a podcast recorded last November.
Triple world champion Stewart, 83, said recently that Hamilton should “resign” after fighting for results this season, while 91-year-old Ecclestone told Good Morning, Britain on Thursday that he would “take a bullet For Vladimir Putin, also describing the Russian president as a “first-class man.”
“I don’t know why we continue to give a platform to these older voices,” Hamilton said.
“They talk about our sport, but we are looking to go somewhere different and they are not representative of who we are now in the sport and where we plan to go.
“If we want to increase our audience in places like the United States and South Africa, we need to give younger people a platform that is more representative of today and what we are trying to be.
“It’s not just about one person or the use of that term (from Pique), it’s about the bigger picture.
Hamilton, 37, continued: “I told Formula One and the media that we should not give these people a platform – those old voices who, whether subconscious or conscious, do not agree that people like me should be in this sport.
“I don’t think that in the last few weeks of the day, some of the older people who haven’t been in our sport for decades are trying to say negative things and take me down.
“But I’m still here, I’m still strong and I’m trying to do my job and promote diversity. Discrimination exists. It’s still all around us. Enough is enough.
“I have tried to take this main path and avoid it, but no one should have to reject racism and I should not have to erase it. We need large organizations to take a stand. “
Hamilton also targeted Good Morning Britain for Ecclestone’s invitation to their program.
He continued: “There must be some responsibility. You know what you’re going to get with this, and I don’t know what their (GMB) goal is and whether they wanted to create and split here in the UK.
“We don’t need more than that. To hear someone who believes in war and the displacement of millions of people and the killing of thousands of people, and to support this person (Putin) who is doing this, is beyond me. I can’t believe I heard that today.
“It simply came to our notice then. This will take us back decades and we will only see the true severity of the pain.
“So why? We don’t need to support this, we need to look to the future. We need more positivity. If you don’t have anything positive to contribute to where we want to go and where we want to be, don’t give them any space. . ”
Ecclestone has driven Formula One for more than four decades, but the sport has distanced itself from his remarks.
An F1 spokesman said: “The comments made by Bernie Ecclestone are his personal views and are in stark contrast to the position of the modern values of our sport.
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